Bird flu has killed over 1,200 fowls in Vietnam's northern provinces of Bac Ninh and Vinh Phuc and central Quang Ngai province in recent few days, raising the total number of localities stricken by the disease since early last month to 13, according to sources from Vietnam Veterinary Department on Tuesday.

As of Monday, bird flu had killed over 250 chickens and 25 swans in four flocks in Bac Ninh's Thuan Thanh, Gia Binh and Tien Du districts. Tests from the fowls were positive to bird flu virus strain H5.

The disease also killed and led to the force culling of nearly 1,100 chickens, 4,750 quails and 250 swans in Vinh Phuc's Tam Duong district from Oct. 27 to Nov. 10, and 1,700 ducks in Quang Ngai's Binh Son and Tu Nghia districts from Nov. 6-12.

Since early last month, bird flu has been spotted in 61 communes, 39 districts of the 13 northern, central and southern localities, leading to the forced culling of some 136,00 fowls, including nearly 94,500 chickens, 37,110 ducks and 4,280 quails and pigeons.

Previous outbreaks starting in December 2003 killed and led to the forced culling of some 46.6 million fowls in Vietnam, causing losses of 3.5 trillion Vietnamese dong (221.5 million US dollars).

Vietnam has detected 65 human cases of bird flu infections, including 22 fatalities, in 25 cities and provinces since December 2004, the Vietnamese Health Ministry announced on Nov. 11, noting that the accumulated numbers of bird flu infections and fatalities since December 2003 are 92 and 42, respectively.

Source: Xinhua